László Trócsányi

Minister of Justice

Ministry of Justice

European Commission is suing Hungary based on double standards

January 4, 2018 4:16 PM

The European Commission applies double standards when it only finds objectionable the rejection of the decision on the EU refugee quotas in the case of three Member States, while the other Member States have also failed to implement it, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice stressed at a press conference held on Thursday in Budapest.

Pál Völner said this in response to reports that the European Commission’s mandatory quota petition has been officially received by the European Court in the infringement procedures instituted against Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland.

The representative of the Hungarian Government said the entire procedure is about Brussels keeping the quota issue alive, and imposing on the Member States resettlement without upper limits. The Parliamentary State Secretary believes this is clearly indicated by the fact that while lawsuits are being instituted against just three Member States, Austria has met less than one per cent of its resettlement quota, Slovakia has fulfilled 1.8 per cent, Bulgaria stands at 4.6 per cent, Spain has fulfilled 14 per cent of its allotted share, and France has met just 24.5 per cent of the quota expectation falling on it.

The states now being sued can no longer be required to take migrants in, but they are threatened with the imposition of a monetary fine, he said, observing that this raises the question of why someone who has fulfilled only one per cent of their quota should not be required to pay a penalty on the remaining 99 per cent.

Mr Völner also said that proposals related to the resettlement of migrants without an upper limit have emerged which seek to attribute a greater role to various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the effort to help receive and relocate migrants. "This once again indicates the strengthening of George Soros’s organisations", he said, voicing his view that leaders of the EU continue to seek to force the flow of migration onto the Member States.

The Parliamentary State Secretary underlined that the Government will however resist these attempts. At the same time, the stakes of the upcoming spring elections are high because the country needs a cabinet which is consistent on this issue, does not play about, and does not claim that there is no Soros plan and there are no quotas when reality and the statements of various organisations and individuals prove the contrary, he argued.

In answer to a question, Mr Völner said the lawsuit before the European Court may take as long as a year or more. At the same time, he did not wish to make guesses regarding the amount of a possible fine as in his view Hungary will be able to defend its position.